Taxonomic studies in the genus Poa L. (Gramineae).

The study embraced the sections of Poa L. (Gramineae) occurring in Europe; European species and subspecies received more detailed taxonomic treatment, partly because of the greater availability of material, but the work extended to cover non-European species which could be placed in European sections. The aim of the research was to produce a revised sectional classification of the genus. In the course of the work, anatomical features of the leaf and stem were studied. A list of chromosome numbers was compiled, and nine original determinations were added in an appendix. Two of these were for species not previously counted, and two confirmed a single previous published count. Morphological characters were investigated, and a close study was made of variation in the Poa sterilis group. The geographical distribution and taxonomic limits of the European taxa were established, and an account was provided for Flora Europaea (appendix l). Diagnoses of the sections adopted in the revised classification of the genus were compiled, and the names of new taxa proposed will be validated in a forthcoming paper in the series "Notulae Systematicae and Floram Europaeam Spectantes". Two new sections were proposed: sect. Leptophyllae mihi (type: P. stiriaca Fritsch et Hayek ex D?rfler) and sect. Nanopoa mhi (type: P. trichophylla Heldr. Sart. ex Boiss.). A new name was shown to be required for Poa concinna Gaudin (1811) non R.Br. (1810): it is proposed to re-name the species P. perconcinna mihi. Several species and subspecies were reduced to synonymy, and the status of putative hybrid taxa was investigated.